Adirondacks: Indian Head and Rainbow Falls Hike

After contemplating for several weeks, we bit the bullet and decided to do this hike. The main problem for us was the daunting 11-12 mile hike. Anyway, the point is that we set off to do it this weekend. Sunday showed more chances for rain than Saturday. So, we left early on Saturday. We had done a bunch of research and had watched videos that showed mama bear and cubs in the area! So, we took some small bells to hang from the backpack. It was a cloudy day, all the way to the trailhead. While the fall colors were iffy on the Northway 87, it got better and beautiful as we got closer to Exit 30 and on Route 73. We were looking for the trailhead parking around Ausable road - about 5-6 miles after taking Route 73. The parking was overflowing and cars were parked on 73 for about a mile on either side, wherever there was space.
Luckily, we got a spot on Route 73 not too far from the trailhead (maybe about a mile or so from the trailhead). We got to the Lake Road, between two tennis courts and headed towards the trailhead. Registered in the book outside and started our hike.
It couldn’t be more auspicious for the rain to start as soon we set our foot on the trail! Okay, it must be some passing clouds - remember that the weather channel was predicting rain only for Sunday. So, it should be alright. Kept walking for about an hour in the rain, that changed from intermittent showers to showers and to steady rain, sometimes heavily! We were contemplating on whether to continue or return when we came across some directions for Indian Head. We were a little skeptic to take as there were supposed to be several trails leading to Indian Head from the Lake Road - some tough than others, some more scenic than others. We saw a family (mom, dad, and their son) of hikers and asked about the adjacent trail. Luckily, one of them had been to the Indian Head a few times before and they welcomed us to join them. As if we were waiting to get that cue, we quickly said yes. That put rest to our contemplation on whether to continue the trail :).
It became a very pleasant hike even though it was raining. The dad in the group was very friendly and started talking with us. We came to know that the son hiking with us was a Marine. Well, we thought, finding these hikers couldn’t have been gotten better. While we passed another trail to Indian Head, the son told us that they were going to go to Rainbow Falls before getting to Indian Head. Rainbow Falls was not in our plans, but of course, it became a part of our plan now. It was still raining, but we stopped paying attention to the rain. The temperature was so perfect - it was neither too cold nor too hot. Just perfect!
The hike to Rainbow falls started at the end of Ausable Lake where the Lake was overflowing a small dam into Ausable River. The bridge over the river had to be crossed to get to the Rainbow falls. The view from the bridge showed us the Indian Head with fog moving in and out. It was so beautiful with the cloud of fog flowing over the colors of Autumn with the water flowing in the foreground. We crossed the bridge and ventured into the woods on a trail to get to Rainbow Falls. It was steep in some places and get to closer to the Falls, one had to climb up and down some boulders and rocks - it was as if the Falls was hidden and not. Very serene atmosphere in spite of the foot traffic there.
We re-traced the path and got back to the trailhead for Indian Head. The Marine son was so helpful in letting us know the difficult/ease ahead, simultaneously reiterating that it is doable. But for his instructions and the interesting conversation with the dad, we wouldn’t have had such wonderful time. While the distance was supposed to be only a mile or so, the entire mile was very rocky and sometimes steep. Some places literally had ladders to climb on to the next level.
Finally, we reached the Indian Head, holding our hunger for a lunch which we were carrying. When we reached there, guess what? We were in the fog and the visibility was only couple hundred meters. But, the lake beneath was peeking at us briefly when the fog moved in and out. It was surreal to see the lake come in and out of our sight with the fog being carried by the wind. Sun tried to peek a few times, making the colors of the leaves shine. While a clear day would’ve provided a different experience, this, in our opinion was providing a different type of treat for the eyes. Again, the weather wasn’t too chilly for the time of the year. It was a perfect spot for lunch. We devoured the beauty while having the lunch and continued for some time at the same spot taking numerous pictures. Our hiking partners were getting ready to leave sooner than us and we bid them farewell, though reluctantly.
Few minutes later, we decided to leave and descended from the summit. There was another path down via Gillbrook, but we were told by the Marine son that while it won’t be longer, it was rocky terrain going along a brook. We decided to take the same path back down to the Lake Road. Climbing down the ladder was a challenge with the muddy steps due to the incessant rain earlier. The rain had decided to take a break when we reached the summit and it continued its pact with the weatherman for a while.
By the time, we got back to the trailhead and signed off in the register there, it was about 5 p.m. From there, it was another 30-40 min walk down to our car. It was about 7 hour hike for us. While it was a stretch for us, we felt it was certainly worth the experience, anytime of the year (except maybe during winter and snow, for us!)